This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions within this post are my own.
Vinegar + Dawn Trials
Ok, so I really love the mixture of white vinegar and the Original Blue Dawn. It’s a solution that safely cleans a number of surfaces and is very affordable. It cannot be used in all situations and not everyone appreciates the smell of vinegar or of the Original Blue Dawn, so with this post I am going to go over other versions of Vinegar + Dawn to see if there are any differences in cleaning ability and the smell factor.
I used the same ratio of Vinegar + Dawn of 1:1 in each trial.
The different type of Dawns I used were
Ultra Dawn Original
Ultra Dawn Platinum
Ultra Dawn Escapes, New Zealand Springs
Ultra Dawn Pure Essentials, Lemon Essence Scent
After conducting this little experiment, I have listed the solutions and what I use them for now. If you want to read about the different experiments, all of that information is below.
Ultra Dawn Original: general bathroom cleaner, laundry pre-treater, carpet cleaner, general cleaner
Ultra Dawn Platinum: toilet bowl cleaner, laundry pre-treater, carpet cleaner, general cleaner
Ultra Dawn Escapes, New Zealand Springs: will keep on hand as a backup cleaner, but found to be less effective.
Ultra Dawn Pure Essentials, Lemon Essence Scent: daily shower cleaner, general cleaner
Before I began my experiment, I reviewed the different Safety Data Sheets (SDS) on the Procter & Gamble site. Each product has it’s very own SDS, however there is a multiple product SDS available that lists Ultra Dawn Original and Ultra Dawn Escapes products together. Seeing this made me think that these two would perform similarly. Each cleaner was tested on the scenarios from Vinegar + Dawn = OMG. This test was done over a period of four weeks so each solution would be tested against the same amount of grime. The nozzles on the spray bottles were all set the same.
Bathroom Cleaner: Used on counters, fixtures, tile, tub, toilet, and floor.
Original: Sprayed on in a medium-fine mist. On the counters, fixtures, and linoleum floor it worked well being sprayed on and wiped off within a five-minute period. When sprayed on the tub/tile and left for five minutes it removed most of the soap scum and hard water deposits off the tile. I did rinse the tub so it wasn’t slippery for the next shower. It did slightly discolor the grout, which isn’t sealed well. This solution cleaned the toilet handle and lids well, but did not stick in the bowl very well, so it took more solution for that part.
Platinum: Sprayed on in a medium-thick spray. On the counters, fixtures, and linoleum floor it worked well, but because it was thicker than the Original I needed to go back and rinse the areas off with a clean, damp rag. When sprayed on the tub/tile it removed most of the soap scum and hard water deposits. This discolored the grout even more. It also took an additional rinse to get the tub to where it was not slippery. This is by far the best solution of any Vinegar + Dawn that I had made to clean the toilet. It worked well on the handle and the lid, I did go back with a clean damp cloth to wipe them off. (Sliding off a toilet seat in the middle of the night is not my idea of a good time.) This solution stuck to the bowl and to under the rim. It had more sticking power and more cleaning power for the bowl. I did not have to use more solution and didn’t have to use a lot of elbow grease.
Escapes: Sprayed on in a lighter medium-fine mist than the Original. On the counters, fixtures, and linoleum floor it worked ok. I felt like I had to wipe and scrub a little harder even though the same amount had been sprayed and left on the surfaces for the same amount of time. In the tub/tile it worked as well as the Original. It did not require more than one rinse, but it still discolored the unsealed/semi-sealed grout. This worked the same as the Original in cleaning the toilet handle and lids. It did not work well in the toilet bowl. It adhered even less than the Original, taking more solution and more effort to get it clean.
Essentials: Sprayed on in a lighter medium-fine mist (had to tell by touch, because this is clear) On the counters, fixtures, and linoleum floor this worked well. Because this does contain essential oils I wiped the floor with a clean, damp cloth after the initial wipe up. Cats are especially sensitive to certain essential oils and I always want to provide him with a comfortable and safe environment. When used on the tub/tile it wiped off the soap scum and hard water deposits like the Original with little effort on my part. The best part is that it did not discolor any of the grout and only needed to rinse the surface off once. This solution is likely to become my daily shower spray. It cleaned the toilet handle and lids well, without leaving them feeling super slippery. It may be because the solution is clear that I was not as happy with it as a bowl cleaner. I sprayed the same amount that I had used previously, but it did not seem to clean as well as the other three.
Spot Carpet Treatment
This was slightly more involved than the other experiments. In order for the testing to have validity, I got a carpet remnant that is similar to my current carpet, the standard apartment beige. This is where it gets gross. Two of the most common stains on my carpet are blood from nosebleeds and cat hairball ick. To get something close to this in larger quantity I used blood from the butchers and a slurry of wet and dry cat food. With each test I blotted up excess and removed as much physical bits as possible, which is how I would treat my own carpet. Carpet can discolor using certain cleaners, vinegar and dawn should not be used on dark carpet. If the carpet receives direct sunlight, fading due to the vinegar can also occur.
Original: I sprayed on a liberal amount and worked from the center of the spot to the outer spot. I followed this step with spraying on clean water and using the same inner to outer approach. I actually scrubbed and did not blot like most cleaners recommend. The blood and cat food slurry did come out, but it took several attempts.
Platinum: I sprayed less using this solution because it is much thicker. I worked the stained area from inner circle to outer circle and followed with spraying water and following the same pattern. This not only took less spraying, but it also to fewer treatments to get the same result.
Escapes: This took more attempts than any other. The blood did not want to come out at first and the cat food slurry seemed to cling to the carpet with more stubbornness. Several treatments later I was still not 100% happy with the results. The knap of the carpet seemed cakey and did not bounce back as it had with the other solutions.
Essentials: This took only one more treatment attempt than the original. Working from the inner part of the stains to the outer part I was able to remove all of the stain and debris from the carpet knap. The essentials that I used was lemon. This combined with the vinegar did lighten the carpet some, even without exposure to direct sunlight.
Laundry Pre-Treater
I currently live in an apartment complex that has a laundry facility, but not in my building. When pretreating clothes, I spray down the stained area, work on it in cool to cold water, the spray it again and put it by the hamper. This keeps the badly stained or dirty clothes from transferring stains and grime onto my more gently worn items. The stains that I face with laundry include blood, cooking oil, other food related stains, gear oil, and red clay. No matter which spray was used, when washing the smell of vinegar is not left behind on the clothes. If you have softer water, it may take an additional rinse cycle due to suds. Because I needed to test the efficacy of each solution each solution had its own washing so they were never combined.
Original: Worked well by spraying item, working the spray into the stain, and rinsed out in cold water. Did have to use several sprays to saturate the stained area. I resprayed the stained area before putting it in the hamper to wait for laundry day. When washed, no stain was left behind.
Platinum: This sprays on thick, more like most store-bought pre-treater. The thicker solution takes a bit more to work into a garment, but it rinses out just as easily. The platinum solution almost cancels out the vinegar smell and that makes it more likely to be used by people that do not appreciate vinegar.
Escapes: Following the same steps, the solution was sprayed on, worked through the stain, and rinsed out. It was then resprayed on the stained area and put in the hamper to be washed. This did take treating certain stains more solution than the others. It seemed to work just as well, but when the wash was done there was cooking oil stains that was still on one of my t-shirts.
Essentials: I was concerned most about this one because lemon can have a bleaching effect and I wear a lot of darker blues, purples, and blacks. It treated the stains as well as the Original and the Platinum. It was sprayed on, worked through, rinsed, and resprayed. I was pleasantly surprised that this did not discolor or bleach my clothes. That being said, there is always that possibility so I would use this solution with caution or just use the Original or Platinum.
General Cleaner
Vinegar and Dawn are my favorite go to cleaners, but they are not capable of everything. Vinegar does have some disinfectant properties but is not registered as a disinfectant. It is also not capable of killing dangerous bacteria like staphylococcus. So, if you are cleaning the kitchen counters after prepping meats or vegetables that you did not grow, grab this cleaner instead.
All four Vinegar+Dawn solutions worked equally as well when wiping down counters and cabinets for a daily cleaner. Again, the purpose of that wipe-down was not to kill germs.
